BANGKOK – India’s military is advancing its strategic presence in the Andaman Sea by constructing a multi-billion-dollar air and naval base on Great Nicobar Island, positioning itself near the Strait of Malacca—a critical shipping lane through which China routes over 70% of its oil imports.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the project’s significance in a September social media post, calling it a transformative step toward establishing a major maritime and air connectivity hub in the Indian Ocean.
This expansion, potentially bolstered by alliances with the U.S. and others, could reshape regional security dynamics, enabling India to challenge China’s dominance in the Strait of Malacca during tensions. Construction is already underway, with initial operational capabilities expected within years.
Located 3,000 kilometers southeast of New Delhi and at the southern tip of the Nicobar archipelago, Great Nicobar—3,000 kilometers southeast of New Delhi—is India’s southernmost territory, adjacent to Indonesia’s Sumatra Island and the western entrance to the Malacca Strait.
The project includes a new Greenfield International Airport capable of accommodating fighter jets and commercial flights, replacing a small facility at Campbell Bay. Enhanced radar systems at the existing Base Baaz (Hawkins Air Station) will bolster surveillance over the strait’s western approach, a route used by the U.S. Seventh Fleet.
A deepwater seaport at Galathea Bay aims to become India’s largest container hub, luring regional shipping traffic by bypassing fees imposed at Singapore, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka. Officials envision the island as a cornerstone of India’s Blue Economy and a counter to China’s “String of Pearls” strategy.
China Global South Projects analysis warns that India’s progress threatens Beijing’s “Malacca Lifeline,” crucial for sustaining its overseas trade networks. Indian military planners have openly cited leveraging the base to monitor Malacca Strait movements and disrupt potential Chinese supply chains amid geopolitical instability.
Environmental and human rights concerns dominate opposition critiques. Conservationists warn of pollution, ecosystem disruption, and threats to endangered species from military activity and shipping traffic. Geologists caution about tsunami risks following underwater seismic events.
Indigenous Shompen tribespeople, numbering 300 among an island population of 1,200 subsistence foragers, face displacement. Survival International, joined by 39 genocide scholars, condemned the project as a potential precursor to cultural eradication, citing historical parallels between India’s Make in India initiative and China’s entirely engineered Shenzhen City.
Defenders argue the $9B investment aligns economic and ecological goals, citing the National Green Tribunal’s 2023 approval that emphasized strategic and developmental imperatives outweighing environmental risks.
Infrastructure development includes a new power plant to sustain operations, with plans to relocate hundreds of thousands of Indian mainland residents to the island. Tourism projections cite proximity to luxury resorts in the Maldives and Southeast Asia, alongside potential cruise ship visits.
As of 2023, the project timeline envisions full-scale completion by 2048, with interim openings planned by 2028—precisely 50 years after China’s disputed 1962 border conflict with Nepal.
—Reporting by Richard S. Ehrlich, Bangkok-based Asia correspondent since 1978 and author of “Rituals, Killers, Wars” and “Apocalyptic Tribes”